It was hugely entertaining! It was billed as a three hour tour, but our guide (Jim) said he would keep talking as long as we kept listening, and he wasn't kidding! It ended up being the best part of FIVE hours!!!

The tour was in two parts. The first part took us on a very early train from Main Street station about an hour and a half before the park opened. We were the only people on the train, and we rode around to the Toontown station, then reversed back down a side line backstage and out of the park (did you ever notice this line was there? I didn't). We backed into the "Roundhouse", which is basically the engineering shop where the trains live overnight, are worked on etc. It's an amazing building, with the trains kept at ground level and all the monorails stored and worked on in a separate workshop upstairs. There we saw George Britton. To Disney historians (like me), George is a legend. He was head of the small team that originally renovated the four trains at WDW when they arrived from their previous home in Mexico, and handmade all the rolling stock for the park's opening in 1971. He's still working there, and while the Disney Corporation officially owns the engines, everyone who works with them refers to them as George's Trains.

We got to play in the cab and look around while the engines were being prepared for their day's work, saw them being fired up and brought to full steam pressure, and then we were taken back out into the park. We also deliberately ran a red light to test the train's automatic emergency braking system, which I'm glad to say, worked exceedingly well! Eventually, just after park opening, we rode back around to Main Street station to collect the first passengers of the day.

Here we left the train, and began the second part of our time with Jim - storytelling. He was an ex-cop from New York, a natural storyteller, and told us many tales. Some of his fascinating stories included Walt's early life traveling and working on the railroads, the creation of the Disneyland and WDW lines, and of Walt's own backyard set-up, the Carolwood Pacific Railroad.

Finally we got the familiar tale of Walt's train journey back home from New York City. He had just lost everything (again) and needed to come up with something to save his company. In desperation, he began doodling and eventually came up with an idea for a mouse..

It was a great tour, and I'd thoroughly recommend it for train buffs and Disney history fans alike. It's probably not for your casual visitor, but if you make the effort it's certainly a hidden gem.